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Early
in the morning of day four we broke camp, and began
paddling the remaining distance to the Margaret river
haul-out spot.
Time
was a bit of an issue, as we were scheduled to visit a
working sheep
ranch
early that afternoon. However, we did have time to pause
at a rope
swing
about half way to our ultimate destination. The swing deposited us about
10 meters from the river bank and about 2 meters or so
above the water.
It was an exhilarating way to get your morning shower. The
photo below
captures Derrick as he begins his plunge into the
Blackwood River.
In the photo to the right, Mr. Smith receives some last
minute advice
from Wally before
having his encounter with gravity. The judges awarded him
a "2."
First
we had to learn the rules then we started
low and kept increasing our
height until we got to the top. It was mad
crazy fun.
After hauling out our canoes and
saying goodbye to the team of Rick, Deborah and
Wally from
Milesaway Tours, we headed to Yallingup and western
Australia's famed
beaches. Following a quick lunch and some basic
instruction in safety
and riptides, we hit the beach. The beaches were
beautiful, but the
water was cold. The picture to the left shows the approach
to Yallingup
beach, which is reached by long series of stairs. The
picture to the
right provides a good view of the beach itself
Refreshed from our dip
in
the Indian Ocean, we piled into the
vans and headed to a local sheep ranch. Upon arrival, we
fed some
sheep
in the holding corral outside the main building. In the
photo to the
left,
Mizuho feeds the eager sheep as Lindsay and Weston
look
on. We were then ushered inside
the main room, the shearing shed. There we were shown how
the fleece
was sorted, graded and packed after they are shorn.
After
learning how the wool was processed, we learned a bit
about how the
ranch
itself operated. A sheep ranch has about 1000 sheep, and
they are
managed
by just a few people and two sheep dogs, an
English border
collie
and a Kelpie, a cross between a sheep dog and dingo
(according to our
host,
although some breeders dispute this). The border collie
can round up
over
one hundred sheep at a time. We found this out, as the
border collie
pictured
to the right rounded up a herd of 100 sheep and had them
in the chute
in
less than 3 minutes. The key to their success? Sheep are
terrified of
dogs.
Interestingly, they are not afraid humans! After the
border collie
herds
the sheep down the chute, that's where the Kelpie comes
in--it
literally
walks on the sheep's backs, hustling them down toward
the corrals where
they await shearing. The video below from Warook farm
shows a kelpie in
action.
We
returned to the sheep shearing shed, and were treated to a
demonstration
of how the sheep are actually shorn. Holding the sheep by
its front
legs,
the sheep shearer shaves off the entire coat of wool in
one piece; the
process takes less than a minute. The picture to the left
shows a
shearer in
action.
In the picture to the right, Lindsay feeds a baby lamb,
while (below)
Felipe and Joe learn how to handle the sheep as Alex
(in the background) looks on nervously. The video below
shows the sheep
shearing process, courtesy of jagger3534.
Beaches & a Sheep
Ranch
